A decade after being sentenced to two life terms plus 40 years without parole, Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht took the stage at the Bitcoin 2025 conference on Thursday, a free man. No longer behind bars, Ulbricht was overwhelmed by how much the world, Bitcoin, and technology had changed since his imprisonment.
“Just a few months ago, I was trapped behind those prison walls and didn’t know if I would ever get out,” Ulbricht said. “Now I’m free, and it’s because of you.”
Choking up as he recalled the years behind bars, Ulbricht thanked the Bitcoin community for standing by him throughout his time in prison.
“You didn’t abandon me. You didn’t forget me. You wrote me letters. You raised money for my defense,” Ulbricht told the audience. “When I was silenced, you spoke up against the slander and the smears.”
He described his pardon as a ‘miracle’ and said it was disorienting to emerge into a world filled with drones, AI, and cryptocurrency apps.
“I effectively went into a time capsule in 2013,” Ulbricht said, comparing himself to Rip Van Winkle.
“When I walked out of prison a few months ago, I’d never seen a drone, used AI, or tried VR. I hadn’t even chatted with AI,” he said. “Now it’s all hitting me at once — the freedom, the technology, the fact that I have a future again.”
Agents with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Ulbricht on October 1, 2013, for his involvement with creating and operating the Silk Road. The dark web marketplace facilitated anonymous sales of illegal drugs and services using Bitcoin.
Ulbricht was charged with conspiracy, drug trafficking, and operating a criminal enterprise. On May 29, 2015, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest sentenced Ulbricht to two life terms plus 40 years without parole.
Ulbricht’s conviction sparked a global campaign to set him free. Spearheaded by Ulbricht’s mother, Lyn Ulbricht, the Free Ross movement included a Change.org petition that received over 600,000 signatures asking for clemency.
In the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, then-candidate Donald Trump promised to free Ulbricht in a bid to appeal to the Bitcoin community.
After 11 years in prison, on January 21, 2025, President Trump signed the pardon that released Ulbricht.
“It took President Trump recognizing that an injustice had been done and that many of you demanded my freedom. I’m thankful we elected him. He’s a man who does what he says — he said he’d free me, and he did. He’s a man of integrity.”
Despite the years he spent in prison, Ulbricht urged the Bitcoin community to stay grounded in its core principles.
Ross Ulbricht at Bitcoin 2025. Image: Decrypt/André Beganski
“With so much speed and chaos, it’s more important than ever to stay true to our principles. It’s easy to lose sight when everything happens at once and countless things pull at your attention,” he said. “Principles should be simple and few and today, I’ll mention three: freedom, decentralization, and unity. Remember those three.”
As he closed his speech, Ulbricht called for solidarity—not just among Bitcoiners but across the entire cryptocurrency community—and for renewed commitment to the values that had carried both him and the movement this far.
“We can argue, but never see each other as enemies. Those who oppose decentralization and freedom thrive on our division. Stay united,” he said. “If we agree that we deserve freedom and that decentralization secures it, we can stand together. Have each other’s backs, as you had mine. Freedom, decentralization, unity—stay true to these, and the future is ours.”
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
